From books and TV shows to movies and plays, the contrast between light and dark is found everywhere. Typically, light indicates something good, while the dark is something to be feared and is bad. For example, most people have this notion that Heaven, which is an unquestionably excellent place, is all light, while Hell, which is atrocious, is completely dark. Even little kids assume something bad is going to happen in the dark, but if they have a night light, then everything will be okay. This premise carries over into literature, especially Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury utilizes light to symbolize knowledge, while the dark indicates ignorance. This technique is used to develop the notion that the destruction
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In the beginning, the society of Fahrenheit 451 seems to be utopian. On page 2, Bradbury illustrates this utopia, by using exaggerated vocabulary. For example, when Montag returns to the fire station, “He hung up his black-beetle-coloured helmet and shined it, he hung his flameproof jacket neatly; he showered luxuriously, and then, whistling, hands in pockets, walked across the upper floor of the fire station and fell down the hole,” (Bradbury 2). By using adjectives such as luxuriously and neatly, Montag is characterized as a man who does not have a single care in the world. If every citizen does not have a care in the world, then s/he must be living in an utopian society. However, the image of the society presented to the reader is decided by the narrator, in this case, Guy Montag. Throughout the beginning of the book, Montag is described in dark colors. The book states, “ They and their charcoal hair and soot-coloured brows and bluish-ash-smeared cheeks where they had shaven close...These men were all mirror-images of himself!” (Bradbury 30). If all of the men are mirror images of Montag, then he must, also, have “charcoal hair” and “bluish-ash-smeared cheeks” (Bradbury 30). Montag’s ignorance, symbolized by dark hues, allows him to look past the imperfections of the civilization that other, knowledgeable characters, like Clarisse McClellan, are not able to. Clarisse states that ten of her friends have died of car crashes, which scares her, and the kids do not like her because she is “afraid” (Bradbury 27). For these kids, they are just having fun, which builds the idea of a perfect society. But for Clarisse, who is an intellectual, she can see that society should not be this way, therefore she sees through the mist. As Montag continues his journey of self-actualization, Bradbury begins
In the beginning, the society of Fahrenheit 451 seems to be utopian. On page 2, Bradbury illustrates this utopia, by using exaggerated vocabulary. For example, when Montag returns to the fire station, “He hung up his black-beetle-coloured helmet and shined it, he hung his flameproof jacket neatly; he showered luxuriously, and then, whistling, hands in pockets, walked across the upper floor of the fire station and fell down the hole,” (Bradbury 2). By using adjectives such as luxuriously and neatly, Montag is characterized as a man who does not have a single care in the world. If every citizen does not have a care in the world, then s/he must be living in an utopian society. However, the image of the society presented to the reader is decided by the narrator, in this case, Guy Montag. Throughout the beginning of the book, Montag is described in dark colors. The book states, “ They and their charcoal hair and soot-coloured brows and bluish-ash-smeared cheeks where they had shaven close...These men were all mirror-images of himself!” (Bradbury 30). If all of the men are mirror images of Montag, then he must, also, have “charcoal hair” and “bluish-ash-smeared cheeks” (Bradbury 30). Montag’s ignorance, symbolized by dark hues, allows him to look past the imperfections of the civilization that other, knowledgeable characters, like Clarisse McClellan, are not able to. Clarisse states that ten of her friends have died of car crashes, which scares her, and the kids do not like her because she is “afraid” (Bradbury 27). For these kids, they are just having fun, which builds the idea of a perfect society. But for Clarisse, who is an intellectual, she can see that society should not be this way, therefore she sees through the mist. As Montag continues his journey of self-actualization, Bradbury begins